He's slippin'

Poll results on President Obama's popularity among his people are showing quite a bit of movement - he's losing popularity. I was frankly surprised at how much ground he's lost in just a few months. It's a much-needed correction, but it's come rather quickly.

The Rasmussen Report gives the details.

The percentage who strongly approve of his work has slipped to 32%
The percentage who strongly disapprove has risen to 37%.

The gap is widening.

The percentage of people who approve in any way of his performance in office, has gone down to 52%. That's really not that bad (Bush's approval ratings sank to the teens!!), but for the first time, this number for Obama is below the 53% share of the vote he got in the election. He's losing his own voters too.

I'm not gloating over this. Granted, I don't agree with the man's worldview or his policies. But I've always felt that the wave of euphoria that swept him into office was a purely emotional one. That's great for weddings and honeymoons, but this is politics: crucial legislation and billions of tax dollars. It worried me that America was handing over the reins of power to a man, purely because they were enamored of him.

And that's the problem: the damp-napkin depth of the American people, at times. Especially at election times. They embraced him into office for emotional reasons, and they now begin to reject him for pocketbook reasons. It's clearly the continued downturn in the economy (and especially unemployment numbers) that is producing his decline. Americans enjoy political emotions for a while; they really care about their money, all the time.

Obama's policies will be expensive. I guess some Americans assumed that they would be expensive for somebody else. But even with jobs gone, and houses foreclosed, and hours cut, and businesses closing, he will continue to push through legislation that will cost Americans a fortune. Legislation that, I think, Americans are no longer sure they believe in. It sounded good then, but it feels bad now.